


Short Vacations

by MugOfAtmosphere



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Gender-Neutral Pronouns, No age specified besides that, Other, Reader Insert, everyone is 18+
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-06 15:15:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20293579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MugOfAtmosphere/pseuds/MugOfAtmosphere
Summary: Your family takes a short vacation to Gravity Falls for a nice relaxing break. But things end up being not as relaxing as you'd like when you make an unlikely pair of friends. ( Characters are all 18+) (Gender Neutral Reader & Parent for choices to the reader)





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone is written to be 18 or older.  
Lots of things are neutral so you, the reader, and swap things out as you please. 
> 
> Trying to make this slow burn.

Gravity Falls. A small almost secluded town in Oregon. Reports of strange creatures and anomalies often came from the town, only on rare occasions making it to national news. Gravity Falls really hit it big back when Lil Gideon caused quite a bit of trouble on the town. The town was hit pretty hard with destruction and donations were made to the town to help get it fixed up. At the time of this, you had seen the donation signs in places and even online but you never paid much attention to it. When your guardian was even watching the news, you didn’t pay much attention. It didn’t seem very important compared to other problems going on in your nation. 

It was now years later since the Lil Gideon incident had happened. The posters and donation boxes were long gone and everything about the anomaly town had died down significantly. Every once in a great while, someone would bring up Gravity Falls but the conversations would never last long. The problems in the town had been fixed and now it was time to focus on the bigger picture going on in the nation. 

“Are you packed yet?” a voice called up to your room, practically yelling since it was obviously difficult to hear another from the first or second floor. The voice had snapped your gaze away from your computer screen to look towards your bedroom door and down the hallway and stairs. 

“Sort of,” You called back. No response was given back which probably meant you should get packing. Not like there was any sort of big rush but your guardian had wanted you to be ready by late morning. It was now late morning and you were indeed not ready. Taking a last glance at your computer, you slid out of your seat and closed the lid. 

‘unplug the computer, wrap the cord, put computer things in bag..,’ you thought the steps out to yourself absentmindedly. Gently you placed the computer and it’s accessories into the suitcase positioned on the middle of your floor. With a quick glance, you noticed you needed a few more closed and things. Nabbing them, you stuffed them in and shut the suitcase, zipping it up and setting it upright. The contents made a heavy thud as it adjusted itself and your computer has slid to the other side of the case that was now the bottom. 

“Hurry up!” the voice from earlier called again, this time much clearer than the first. Your guardian must have climbed partially up the stairs to call for you. Your first few steps out of your room were heavy, signifying that you are well on your way out. Looking down at the stairs once you had reached them, you saw your guardian leaning on the wall of the stairs, waiting for you. When they saw you, they waved for you to come on down with your suitcase. 

“Finally. You’re so absorbed by your computer and phone sometimes,” They went over to the front door and opened it, looking at you and waiting as you plopped down the stairs, suitcase thudding behind you in pursuit. 

“Where are we going anyways? You’re still hiding the destination from me,” You spoke as you went past your guardian and out the door. 

“I thought I told you this morning,” They followed you out, shutting the door and locking it tight. 

“You told everyone else BUT me, I was upstairs,” You strode over to the car with the open trunk and popped your suitcase in. Everyone else going on the trip had their luggage in already and were mingling in the car. Your guardian didn’t say anything till you both were about to slide into the car. 

“ We’re taking a trip over Gravity Falls. It’s been years since anything serious has happened, it should be safe and cheap enough for us to stay there for awhile and see what the place has to offer.”


	2. Arrival

It was hours of driving and late into the night when you and your trip mates made it to Gravity Falls. The town was quiet and a couple street lights flickered as your ride drove past them. Your guardian pulled into the motel where they had called in ahead of time to claim a room or two. 

The last half hour before you made it into the strange bed was a blur. Your group had received their room keys and you sorted yourselves out into who would be where. Once in your room with your guardian, you slide your suitcase over to your bed and let it fall onto it’s back. Bending down, your fumbled for the zipper and opened it so you could pull out your sleeping wear and change into it. Your guardian was doing the same, as well as looking around the room.

It looked like any motel room. Grungy and dirty. But at least it was decently cleaned and nothing was broken. The bed was soft and when you wiggled under the sheets to go to sleep, you realized the sheets smelled freshly washed. The detergent was nice and made you feel like you were back in your own bed. That reminded you, when you return home you should most likely wash your sheets. 

**

The sound of someone thumping around your room and moving things around woke you up the next morning. Sleepily opening your eyes to peer around the room, you saw your guardian getting clothes and heading to the bathroom for a shower. Your eyes closed again once the source of the noise was found. But sleep was something that would not come to you as you laid in bed. With a frustrated sigh, you sat up and wiped the sleep out of your eyes, stretched and sat on the edge of the bed staring at your suitcase. 

According to the news your guardian had been listening to last night before you went to sleep, it was supposed to be pretty warm. A tank and a pair of shorts would due you best. Sliding off the bed and onto the floor, you walked on your knees to your suitcase and dug around the clothes and contents you had brought with. It was easy to find some decent clothes and quick to change into them.   
Soon after you heard the water in the bathroom stop and after 15 minutes, your guardian walked out, cleaned and ready for the day. They were a bit surprised when seeing you up already. 

“Oh, good morning!” They tossed their dirty clothes to the side of their suitcase and sat down on the edge of their bed, picking up a glossed paper from the bedside table. You plopped down next to them on the bed.

“We’re thinking of heading over to a diner for breakfast, what do you think?” They asked you without looking away from the glossed paper. You shrugged, knowing you didn’t have much of a choice to object. 

“Sounds good. when are we going?” You asked, it did seem pretty early in the morning. what was it? With a glance at the clock, your question was answered. It was 8am. Good enough time for breakfast while on vacation. 

Soon after the brief conversation, you headed out to the diner with the rest of the small group. The diner was small and it seemed like a lot of the locals were there. The waitress had an odd eye. The front counter was lined with people you wouldn’t normally see back home. There was a large lumber hairy lumberjack with a very flamboyant thin man next to him. A couple seats down from them was a rustic looking old man with the longest beard you had ever seen. On the other side of the large lumber jack was a young woman with long red hair wearing a hat with ear flaps. 

As you followed your group over to a booth, you examined the other booth people. A truck driver looking man with coffee, another young women but with fuchsia colored hair and on her phone, and a bigger man with a pizza shirt. There was also a small group in the booth right before you got to your booth. A young man and women sat facing you as you walked, an old man with a fez on the other side chatted away about something. You examined the young pair. The girl was cute. She had a loud cheery laugh and a contagiously positive smile.

You ended up sitting down in your booth, facing the back of their heads. The image of the young man popped into your head and replaced the girl. He was attractive in your opinion. He had soft looking brown hair and a welcoming smile. Too bad you were only on vacation here. If you were here for a little longer than a week you could have probably gotten to know him. Find out who he is, what he likes, see if you could form a friendship. 

“What would you like?” a voice snapped you out of your thoughts. Turning your gaze away from the back of the heads of the young pair, you see the lazy eyed waitress standing at your table. A mild panic passed as you realized she had asked you that question. 

“Uh-” You looked down at the menu, trying to find something quick to say. 

“I’ll have the benedict eggs with toast please,” your guardian piped up from across the table. Bless them for saving you. You took your few moments to find out what you wanted and once your turn came around again, you ordered. A deep sigh of relief escaped you as you relaxed after that moment. 

You went back to being lost in thought about the young man in front of you. His hat looked old. The blue on the hat was fading. It was obviously pretty beaten up too. The hat looked decent and had a nice aesthetic to it. 

You were so busy in thought you didn’t quite realize he had gotten up and was walking away. You sort of just stared and watched him go with the others he was with. Once he left, you felt a little disappointed that you didn’t do anything to engage some sort of interaction. Though that would have maybe been a little hard since you were with family. 

**

Once breakfast was over, your group sat and chatted, wondering what to look at first. There didn’t seem like there was much to do so your guardian had decided that the group would go look at most things today and see some tomorrow, then let everyone go out on their own to explore things ourselves. 

It seemed like a decent enough plan to you. Maybe you’d run into that attractive fellow while on your own. Possibly attempt an interaction of sorts if you didn’t end up chickening out like usual.   
“ (Y/N), get up,” the person next to you lightly pushed you. 

“Huh? Oh, sorry are we leaving already?” you asked, standing up. The group slid out of the booth. 

“Yup, we’re heading over to the place of mystery, the Mystery Shack,” your guardian got out of the booth and waved for you to follow them out the diner. 

“Mystery Shack?” you repeated quietly. Sounded a bit like a boring time but at least you weren’t going to the museum first.

“Indeedly-doo, I heard it has some neat creatures and monsters stored there,” your guardian opened the door and let you out first before following and having the group trudge on behind the two of you. The word ‘indeedly-doo’ made you cringe in embarrassment. 

The walk to the Mystery Shack wasn’t very long and the place already seemed to be bustling with tourists. On the way to the worn down shack, someone in your group was chatting on about the tour and how the group should go on it. You preferred to not go on it, maybe if the tour group was big enough, you could sneak away and look at things yourself.

When entering the Mystery Shack, your guardian went up to the front desk to sign the group up for a tour. The person at the desk was the old man from the diner. Did that mean the young pair worked here? Maybe. You quickly peered around, trying to get a glimpse but saw no sign of them. You did however ever, find out where the young man had received his hat from. 

“ (Y/N), hurry up over here, the tour is about to start!” your guardian called to you from a large group congregation. Slowly you made your way over to the large group and followed from the back. It’d be easy to sneak away from this. Though, as you looked around and partially listened to the old man giving the tour, the things sitting around seemed fake yet oddly creepy. You stopped to look at something behind a glass case and very quickly got separated from the group. 

“ What the ..,” you felt hesitant as you slowly began to roam around after losing the tour group. 

“ Scary aren’t they?” a cracky sort of voice echoed in the empty area you were in. A tall body appeared next to you, startling you. Glancing up, you notice the person was the young man from the diner. He wasn’t actually too much taller than you, possibly a head more. He was also much more attractive up close and smelled of a strong cologne. You did a quick glance up and down on him, giving off a look that screamed ‘who are you and why are you talking to me’. His sleeves were rolled up slightly to reveal toned forearms. An intrusive thought about the rest of his body pushed into your head and you quickly shook it away. 

He looked away from the object the two of you were standing in front of, giving you a friendly smile. 

“Touring yourself or were you with a group?” he asked.


	3. Tours and Crafts

“ Oh no I just.., I didn’t really want to be touring with that big of a group,” you spoke softly, feeling a little nervous briefly. It took you a deep breath to calm yourself. There wasn’t anything to be afraid of anyways

“ I’m not much of a big group person either. I could give you a personal tour if you’d like,” the stranger offered. 

“ That would be nice,” you spoke up after a moment's hesitation to think about it. 

“Cool. I’m Dipper by the way. Dipper Pines,” he turned and faced you, holding out his hand. You grasped it and gave him a firm handshake.

“Nice to meet you Dipper. I’m (Y/N),” you could feel the dumbest smile forming on your face, which made your face reddened from embarrassment from smiling like an idiot. 

“ Alright (Y/N). Welcome to the Mystery Shack. At this very moment, you’re standing in front of one of the most fake exhibits my Grunkle has put together. “ Dipper spoke, pointing to the paper mache looking alien head behind a glass case. 

“ Oh? And here I thought it was real and you guys had decapitated some alien instead of giving it to the government,” You looked up at Dipper, who laughed lightly at your comment.

“ That’s what he wants you to think,” he turned away and roamed over to the next exhibit, “ so are you visiting or a new neighbor in town?” 

“ Visiting for the week,” you replied while following him. Mentally, you thanked him for being the one to do the small talk. You were never very good at it. You could small talk but it just turned into you repeating yourself.

Dipper was silent for awhile while the two of you stared at the next exhibit. A lot of the things in here were interesting to look at. It was nice to stand and examine the things but the awkwardness of standing with a stranger, who was mildly attractive to you, ruined the whole ‘peaceful’ moments of examination. 

“ What’s good to visit around here?” you pipped up after a couple minutes of silence. Dipper put on a thinking face and put a hand on his chin as he thought. 

“There’s not much besides here, the museum, the pool,”he paused, “I already know you’ve tried the diner food,” 

“ Huh?” you didn’t think he had noticed you and had actually remember you. The two of you didn’t even meet at the diner. 

“ I saw you at the diner this morning,” Dipper frowned slightly, “ you walked right past me and sat at the booth behind me,”

“Oooh...” you pretended you hadn’t remembered that till he brought it up. 

“ If you need anything more to do, I could probably take some time off here and show you around,” Dipper offered, “ my sister, Mable, might come with too,” 

“ That sounds wonderful… but the next day or so I’m supposed to be with my family, then the rest of the week I can do what I like here in town,” you would have prefered him showing you around now but if you had to wait that would be okay too. 

“Then how about after tomorrow we meet at the diner in the morning and I can show you some things that usual tourists don’t get to see,” 

You nodded at Dipper, as if approving that idea. 

“I like that. But, what time do we meet?” you asked.

Dipper shrugged, taking another moment to think.

“ how does 9 am work for you? The diner shouldn’t be too busy then. And we’d have some time to chat and get to know each other more,” 

“ Sounds like a plan,” you held out a hand to him and the two of you shook it out like a deal. 

“We could … also exchange-” Dipper was suddenly cut off by the voice of your guardian calling out.

“(Y/N) where did you go!?” your guardian was calling out from somewhere in the Mystery Shack. Not long after, they came in and saw you standing with Dipper.

“Oh, did you make a friend? Who’s this? “ they asked as they got closer. 

“ I’m Dipper,” He turned around with you and held his hand out to your guardian, “I was giving (Y/N) a personal tour,” your guardian shook his hand with a smile.

" That's awful kind of you to do! I'm glad (Y/N) is making friends here. Though we won't be here long, sadly,"

" I heard! Though ( Y/N) did accept my offer to let me show them around town in a few days. I hope you don't mind if I do that, " 

" oh, well that sounds alright I suppose. But you two don't know each other. I'm a little worried..," your guardian gave you a nervous look. 

" I'm not going to kidnap or harm them. This town is too small. It would be hard to even do such a thing," Dipper chuckled. 

" Ah, well... I guess it would be okay," your guardian looked over at you now, " I want you to keep your phone on you at all times,"

You nodded in acknowledgment of what they said. They waved for you to follow now. Waving your goodbye to Dipper, you followed them. 

" See you at the diner in a few days, (Y/N)!" Dipper called as you and your group left the Mystery Shack. He huffed slightly when you were far away enough. A missed chance to get someone's number. He placed his hands in his pocket and made his way to the front where Mabel sat at the front counter collecting customers money for purchases. 

“Are you trying to flirt again?” She didn’t even look at him as he went around the counter and rested his arms on it, supporting himself as he sat down. 

“What makes you say that?” Dipper glanced at his sister who finished up with the last customer of a large group. 

“You don’t normally go up and talk to people like that,” she turned to him and gave him a knowing look that made him look away quickly, “You really did get some confidence in the past few years… I remember when you’d stutter over every word when talking to someone you found interesting.” 

Dipper didn’t turn his head to look but moved his eyes briefly to look at Mabel then look away again with a huff, “Oh stuff it.”.


	4. Pancakes and Lattes

The next few days felt as if they were dragging on forever. On occasion on those days, you saw Dipper with the other women. They were often running about as if their lives depended on it. You'd catch yourself watching them when you saw them, curious as to what they were doing. If they saw you, Dipper would always wave and give you a big smile before continuing on. 

On the morning when you were supposed to meet Dipper, your guardian woke you up early, making you take a shower before giving you a small lecture.

" I just want you to be safe okay? We don't know this young man. Plus we're only here on vacation for a couple more days," they said when they had finished. Most of what your guardian had told you was somewhat reasonable. 

" I promise to stay safe," you said. After moments of silence, they handed you some cash.

"For breakfast and anything you come across that you like," they patted the money in your hand momentarily. 

" Thank you..," you mumbled as you stood up, giving them a hug. You left and headed off to the diner which wasn't very far away thankfully. 

Once you got there, you noticed Dipper was already sitting in a both with the women you had often seen him with. So that was his sister the whole time? They sure seemed close. Close in appearance as well. 

You entered the diner, it was 8:55am, five minutes early yet they beat you here. As you entered they had immediately spotted you. Mable leaned over and whispered something into Dipper's ear that caused his cheeks to turn a very light shade of red. It was hardly noticeable and seemed to vanish when you walked up to them. 

You arm raised up in a nervous wave. 

" Hi," you spoke quickly, standing there and staring at the two. 

“ Take a seat we don't bite," Dipper spoke up. You followed his suggested order and held your hands tightly in your lap. 

"This is Mable, my twin sister," he pointed to the similar looking girl beside him, " Mable, this is (Y/N), the tourist I told you about,"

Mable gave you a large grin. Her teeth looked as if she had braces removed recently. 

" Hey there,( Y/N)! We'll get along great! I'm sure of it! " the female twin spoke with lots of excitement in her voice. You enjoyed her enthusiasm. A person like this would be great for keeping a positive atmosphere.

Not long later, the lazy eye waitress showed up, greeting Mable and Dipper as if they had known each other forever. They probably have in all honesty. The waitress looked at you and gave you a friendly smile. 

"You must be the friend these twins were waiting for! So then, what can I get you kids?" she asked, her one eye focused on the three of them. 

" a stack of pancakes for all of us, Lazy Susan," Dipper instantly ordered for all of them. You weren't exactly wanting pancakes but he had already ordered and you were too nervous to ask for something different. 

As Lazy Susan left, you began to take out your wallet, only to be stopped by Dipper.

" I'll pay for us. You should spend your money on things to remember this trip," he gave you a friendly smile as you hesitantly put your money away. A free meal while on vacation, cool. Though what was up with this place and pancakes?

" so..what do you guys do for fun around here?" you asked, unsure of what exactly they had planned. The twins glanced at each other then turned to you.

" we're going to go hiking in the woods!" Mabel spoke with excitement. Dipper nodded in agreement. 

" but I do-," you were cut off by Dipper raising his hand. Signaling for you to hush up. 

" we have the supplies you can borrow. It's not like you'll need very much to hike in the woods here," 

It wasn't long after that the pancakes arrived at the table. A few bites in, you realized why they were so in love with these. They were warm, fluffy, and perfect. Possibly a little too perfect. For a moment, you gave the food a skeptical look, trying to see any visible ingredients, but with no such luck, you kept eating. 

Small talk between you and the twins happened every now and then. Once the food was consumed, Mabel chatted about a new latte at the diner and ordered one for each of you. Apparently she helped design it and it was supposed to be better than Starbucks.

It was decent, you enjoyed it, but not enough to chug it in one go like Mabel did. Raising an eyebrow as she consumed the drink, you looked at Dipper. He shrugged, placing some cash on the table once his shoulders had relaxed into a casual position.

" I think it's about time we show you around town," Dipper slid out of the booth, grunting quietly in his effort . Mable slammed the now empty cup on the table, gasping heavily for air. She turned her head to look at Dipper with an aggressive expression. You were impressed by how he didn't look absolutely terrified of his sister. 

Slowly you begin to slide out of the booth, only to move very quickly when Mabel turned to look at you. Moving your gaze to the floor, you decided it would be best to bring the drink with you and finish it since she seemed upset with Dipper for not finishing it. 

" I was thinking, since you've probably seen all the tourist trap stuff, then you can come on a little adventure with us. We do need a third hand in something..," Dipper grabbed the drink Mabel had ordered for him after her persistent glaring.

"Aw Dipper, is that why you wanted to befriend (Y/N)? I thought you said we'd do fine with Candy and Grenda," Mabel spoke up, frowning for once. Dipper gave his sibling a glare.

" No! That's not the reason at all. I just thought... Well... It's a chance for me to make a new friend that isn't friends with you first," he scowled.

" Dipper, you never want to just make friends," Mabel said slowly, then nudged him a bit. He huffed, making his way to the door. You took a sip of the latte and raised your brows in interest. These two were quite entertaining when they bickered. 

"Let's just go already. And if you try to do one of your little things, Mabel, I'll be angry. And you won't like me when I'm angry," Dipper opened the door, waiting for you and Mabel. The threat sounded fake to you. Dipper looked too soft to be threatening. 

"You're not scary when you're angry," Mabel rolled her eyes, taking your hand and leading you to the door. The siblings began to bicker quite a bit. Dipper often bringing up the boxing lessons their Grunkle made him take. As you listened and followed them back towards the Mystery Shack, you learned a couple things. Apparently their Grunkle Stan had a twin, both had taken boxing lessons, and the Grunkle made Dipper take lessons and continue them during school so Dipper wouldn't turn into a weakling and would be able to defend himself. 

Mabel took other lessons however. She was placed into karate and somehow managed to combine her lessons with her sewing skills. You wondered what exactly that meant when the twins brought it up. How exactly could one combine Karate and sewing? Opening your mouth to question it, you looked at the surroundings and realized the small group had arrived at the Mystery Shack. The question ended up slipping from your mind as you took in your surroundings. On this second visit, you took a more careful examination of things. The shack itself was, well, literally a shack. It was begging for a fix up. New siding, a new sign, new everything. Paint was peeling off the wood boards on the sides of the old house and the steps creaked loudly as you all climbed onto the porch. How hadn’t you noticed all this before? Mabel let go of your hand and trotted over to the door, opening it.

“Welcome back to the Mystery Shack! You’ll be getting a quick tour of the not so touristy part of the place!” Mabel stood next to the door and swung her arms in a big dramatic entrance way, waving you through the door with Dipper right in front.


End file.
